This blog is made to share news on Alzheimer’s Disease in India. To raise awareness among the population in and from India, inform people of the resources they may have in their country and about actions taken by organizations. Also, it aims to support families and caregivers there to cope with this disease; help researchers worldwide and advocates in collecting datas and infos, develop views on the local Public Health Policy toward the affected elderly population in India.

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"“I don’t want anything of me to go to a waste,” mother would tell Swapna repeatedly. “Donate all that you can of me and the remaining give it to a medical college for research.” Swapna didn’t find the request bizarre; instead it became her mission. Mother relentlessly gathered all information about ‘donation’ for as long as Swapna can remember. Ironically, even after developing dementia, she di

dn’t forget. When the family moved to Bangalore from Delhi in 2004, even though the move was traumatic for her, just three days after moving she asked Swapna: “Where is the hospital for donation here?” Swapna found out."...

..."But what I saw proved that there’s no need to be apprehensive. Mother was treated with utmost respect. Everybody involved, the staff and the doctors, treated her gently and with dignity. It was in sharp contrast to what I had experienced when my father had died over a decade earlier.

I had performed the last rites. And I have had firsthand experience of everybody haggling for money right from the ward boys to the poojaris at the ghat. It felt dirty. But, my mother's donation process was peaceful and dignified. I strongly feel that my mother was right all along in donating her brain and body instead of wasting it by consigning it to flames.”"...

‎"‎Mother is now completely bedridden.Care for mother begins at 2 am with a diaper check. Changing diaper is a gargantuan task. Mother usually locks her knees tightly. She resists. Glares. Unwilling. Or she just lies there. After the diaper check and change, mother needs to be turned gently onto her other side. Next bout of cleaning is at 5.30 am. Breakfast at 8, lunch at 12 and dinner at 6 pm

takes half-an-hour to two hours. To be fed, mother needs to be propped up on the bed; 50-turn of the lever of the bed and some heaving and pulling props her up to the right height.

Food is liquidized fruits and biscuits or soup or Ensure; medicines are powdered and mixed in water so she can swallow. But now mother often forgets to swallow. It’s an uphill task to get her to open her mouth. Sometimes she swallows the food, but at other times she lets the liquid flow out from the side of her mouth. Sometimes, she sleeps midway during a meal.Bath is no longer a daily activity. It is based on mother’s energy levels.

But she is always kept clean, dry and powdered –no compromises there. After dinner she is given her medicines followed by nebulising. At 10 pm the diaper for the night is put on. Then the alarm is set for 2 am. Another day goes by.

Most of the time mother looks blank even if one smiles at her or talks to her. Sometimes she nods or smiles. Once in a while she will respond with a word or two, or even a full sentence. But those moments are rare. “I tried to freeze them in my heart to compensate for all that blankness,” recalls Swapna."...